Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Gabriel Dawe

Gabriel Dawe
Work from Plexus.
“Citing Anish Kapoor as a major influence, Dawe creates complex and often vertigo inducing spatial structures, which direct the viewer through space. Accordingly, they emulate the invisible forces which shape our existence; the social norms, rules and expectations which determine who we are. In this, Dawe references theorist Michel Foucault’s notion of biopolitical structures of power, which are used to control the individual. However, whilst for Foucault such structures were overwhelmingly malign, Dawe sees them more ambiguously. As with architecture and clothing, which Dawe’s installations evoke, they can control and limit, but also protect and support. In giving visual expression to these webs of forces, the artist alludes to evolutionary theory, microscopic imagery and the patterns inherent in nature, drawing our attention to the ‘invisible order amidst the chaos of life.’ This stunning installation makes the intangible visible, giving form to structures which exist at the very edges of our comprehension.” – National Centre for Craft and Design